Advice on updating and using my first computer again (380Z)

[INTJ]

Hi,

I now live overseas, but several days ago had a conversation with my mother, who told me that upon clearing out the garage she found my old thinkpad 380Z, still in its bag where i left it 4 years ago. This machine has some sentimental value to me as it was the first PC I ever owned, I bought it in '99 if my memory serves me correctly.

I have recently been toying with the idea of procuring a second cheap laptop for my wife, mainly for web browsing and occasionally downloading some video files.

I was wondering how much effort it would take to get this machine up to a useable state running XP with a broadband connection. From memory it has 64MB of ram and pentium II 266mhz cpu, and possible a 10GB HDD (I replaced this when the OEM failed).

I used it extensively with windows 98, it was switched on almost permanently for over 4 years, and was an excellent machine. It ran much slower after I shoved XP on, but I wonder would a RAM upgrade cure that ? How much could I stick in there ? Is the RAM readily available everywhere at a reasonable cost, or is it a specific type only used on these dinosaurs ? I read somewhere that the machine was standard with 32 RAM, and the 64 was an upgrade. If this is the case will I have to lose 32 MB of existing RAM to upgrade (as they only have 2 slots I believe) ?

Also, will any PCMCIA ethernet cars plug straight in and make it broadband ready ?

Last question is the hard disk. I have a Thinkpad R31 with a 40 gig disk, that I would like to upgrade. Could I fit this in the 380Z with no issues and buy a new one for the R31 ?

I asked my mother to try it, and she said it powered up ok.

Looking for any advice or experiences. I realise this is a fossil, but if I could get it working again at a reasonable speed i would feel some strange sense of achievement.

I don't mind spending a small amount on this as a project, but if its going to cost a fortune and cause major headaches I probably won't bother. I have the opportunity to collect the machine next month as I am going to visit my family. I live in Asia now, and computer hardware is readily available at low prices.

Thanks in advance.




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[mactastic]

I do not have a 380Z and thus cannot answer specific questions.

But here are some observations/experience I got regarding old PCs:

(a) 64Mb memory is a bit low for WinXP. Try Win2000 if you have got a copy as Win2000 is not so taxing for the cpu. Furthermore Win2000 has out-of-the-box networking capability. Hence it is easy for boardband connection.
(b) Use a higher speed (e.g. 7200RPM) harddisk if you can afford as there will be lots of paging in/out of data from/to the harddisk due to the limited amount of memory (64Mb).
(c) 266MHz may be OK for websurfing, simple word-processing and spreadsheet applications. But 266MHz is a bit slow for watching videos.

HTH

[Harryc]

IIRC, the 380Z has 32MB (non-removeable) memory on the system board, and you can add up to a 128MB (EDO 144pin 3.3V laptop Memory), for a total of 160MB RAM. If you also upgraded the hard drive to 5400 or 7200 RPM, you could run Windows 2000. The 380Z will even support ACPI if you install the latest BIOS.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4E6TT4

[pianowizard]

This machine has some sentimental value to me as it was the first PC I ever owned, I bought it in '99 if my memory serves me correctly.

I know very well how you feel. I held on to my first computer, an 80286 desktop from 1990, until June 2006 because it had so much sentimental value to me.

From memory it has 64MB of ram and pentium II 266mhz cpu, and possible a 10GB HDD (I replaced this when the OEM failed).

Like Harryc said, you can add a 128MB stick to it, but these sticks are very pricey. I recommend adding a 64MB module for a total of 96MB, and run Windows 2000 instead.

The HDD from your R31 should work, but if it has the same rpm and buffer size as your current 10GB, then it won't speed up the machine. Google these two drives' part numbers to find out their speeds and buffer sizes.

Yes, I believe that any PCMCIA ethernet card will work on this laptop.

[INTJ]

Thanks for the replies. I had a quick look at the prices of the 128 memory, and its far more than the machine's worth !

Procured a copy of windows 2000 SP4 today, I'll see how it goes with that. Will have the old chestnut back in my sweaty palms next month.


Cheers